AS SEEN ON TV: GRANDMA ROBOT

"They make a fairly convincing pitch here. It doesn't seem possible, though, to find a woman who might be ten times better than mother in order to seem half as good - except, of course, in the Twilight Zone."

- The Master Serlinguist

'The Twilight Zone'

One of the first and most enduing of Ray Bradbury's stories to be translated to the small screen was "I Sing The Body Electric" as seen in 'The Twilight Zone'. We continue our doff of the cap to the late Ray Bradbury with this look at that classic....

GRANDMA ROBOT

CREATED BY:

Ray Bradbury

PORTRAYED BY:

Josephine Hutchinson

AS SEEN IN:

'The Twilight Zone'

("I Sing The Body Electric")

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:

"I Sing the Body Electric" is the 100th episode of the American television anthology series 'The Twilight Zone'. It was poorly received by viewers, and is frequently mentioned as the poorest 'Twilight Zone' episode broadcast. The script was written by Ray Bradbury, and became the basis for his short story of the same name, published in 1969, itself named after a Walt Whitman poem. Although Bradbury contributed several scripts to 'The Twilight Zone', this was the only one produced. Later, in 1982, the hour-long NBC television movie "The Electric Grandmother" was also based on the short story.

GRANDMA ROBOT II

CREATED BY:
Ray Bradbury

PORTRAYED BY:
Maureen Stapleton

AS SEEN IN:
"The Electric Grandmother"

"A fable? Most assuredly. But who's to say at some distant moment, there might be an assembly line producing a gentle product in the form of a grandmother whose stock in trade is love. Fable, sure - but who's to say?"

- The Master Serlinguist

'The Twilight Zone'

As they both came off of an assembly line, I don't see why both versions of the story can't take place in the same Toobworld, Earth Prime-Time.  The model is the same, but the particular make of robot is not, each designed to the specifications requested by the two families.  We never learn the family's last name in the second story; it's "Rogers" in the first.  There is a "Tom" in both families, but that's a fairly common name.  And besides, the other siblings have not only different names - Anne & Karen in the first, Agatha & Timothy in the second - but a different combination of genders as well.

So this is one of those rare cases when two different productions can remain in the same TV dimension.  And that seems fitting in this tribute to a man who made the Fantastic seem possible.......

Good night and may God bless, Ray Bradbury......

BCnU.....